Freeview HD over RF output to OLD TV

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pcruthven

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#72462 26-Nov-2010 15:57

Is it possible to have a Freeview HD (certified) receiver output over RF to an OLD TV which has only got RF, NO AV ports at all?

I see this is possible with some Freeview (Satellite) receivers… but wondered if this is possible with the Freeview HD receivers? Or is the RF out only a pass-through for the UHF digital signal to another HD receiver?

Yes I know it would be easer to buy a new TV…

Jaxson

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#409948 26-Nov-2010 16:08

Some may do it.
If you have to buy an RF modulator then yeah, would probably pay to put money towards a new smallish TV with freeview built in.

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richms

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#410048 26-Nov-2010 20:37

pcruthven: Is it possible to have a Freeview HD (certified) receiver output over RF to an OLD TV which has only got RF, NO AV ports at all?

I see this is possible with some Freeview (Satellite) receivers… but wondered if this is possible with the Freeview HD receivers? Or is the RF out only a pass-through for the UHF digital signal to another HD receiver?

Yes I know it would be easer to buy a new TV…

None I have looked at have it, and all the sat ones have the RF out on UHF which makes most pre mid 1980's tv's unable to tune it.

Mind you anything that old will have so much overscan that even on letterbox stuff will be missing off the sides so not really worth the bother.

Richard rich.ms

JimmyH

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#410075 26-Nov-2010 22:47

If you still have an old VCR that the TV tunes via its aerial connector, then you should be able to do it easily.

Freeview Box ---> VCR ---> TV

With the connection to the VCR being composite (the yellow, white and red connectors, if you have only mono audio then just connect the white one), and the connection fromn the VCR to the TV being the Coax as per normal.

However, as richms observes, the real question is is it worth doing so? While you could watch it, the quality will be absolutely awful. I have seen new 32" LCD TVs for under $500, and smaller (22 inch etc) for under $400. In terms of quality, even a bottom-of-the-range cheapie off-brand unit will blow an old 80s CRT connected this way out of the water.

richms

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#410110 27-Nov-2010 01:09

Dont knock the 80's tvs. They are still able to show how bad the dvb-s feed is even when driven over RF with their shocking chroma crosstalk.

Plus when you leave them outside and they get rained on and stop working, $2-5 gets you another one to replace it off trademe ;)

Richard rich.ms

sbiddle

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#410147 27-Nov-2010 09:38

If you buy a RF modulator for ~$60 or so from Jaycar you can hook the box up. Just be aware the downside if the TV is a small one is that you will miss out on a lot of screen being unused if you opt for letterbox to convert the 16:9 feeds to 4:3. Opt for 4:3 centrecut and you'll miss 30% off the left and right of the picture.

bfginger

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#410241 27-Nov-2010 16:54

The badness of RF remodulation is enhanced by the fact that people are usually supplying a poor quality RF modulator with mono sound from a nasty composite line. A high quality RF modulator with stereo sound and S-video-in should do better. There're some examples on Amazon.com but I don't know if they're available here.

Almost any TV with S-video will give you a nicer picture than a TV with only RF / composite. The Freeview|HD signal is good enough to really show up the difference between S-video and composite. I'd take a SD CRT with S-video in preference to an LCD.

richms

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#410244 27-Nov-2010 17:23

Svideo into a modulator will be worse than composite in from a decent digital composite generator since the modulator will just have a passive combiner for the signals, with nothing to ensure the levels are matched, and since an svideo out will have not bandstoppedstuff in the luma channel around the colour carrier there is much more scope to have crosstalk.

An svideo input on a modulators only any use if you have everything else svideo and dont want to have to take composite thru an older AV reciever which doesnt do downconversion. Also there are no sanely priced nicam modulators, and chances are a tv that can use a nicam signal would have AV and probably svideo or scart inputs making the use of a modulator not really needed. There are some analog stereo modulators around which are just using one of the analog methods used in another country, and some tv's will decode it but really, if its going to a screen over RF then surround sound is hardly a concern.

Inbuilt modulators with their lousy RF output levels are great for their designed purpose - crap old TVs that people are too cheap to replace, they never will give a picture even approching the quality of an off air broadcast signal because they just dont have the money spent on them. Even a "good quality" one usually just means they have more RF filtering and gain so you can distribute them mixed with other channels.

Richard rich.ms